Heintamm:
Prince/Upper-class-man
Kharrunah:
Knight/Upper-class-man
Tyttkhein:
Warrior/Middle-class-man
Takh:
Skirmisher/Lower-class-man
The takhi make
up the lower class of the Eindulynn. They are poor people, ranging
from beggars to skilled workers. Takhi, like men of other
classes, can move up in class simply by becoming wealthier. The
majority of the takhi are peasants, living on the kheintreff
of their master the prince and giving him a percentage of their
produce in return for protection from marauders. The takhi can
be called up for military service, but they must supply their own
equipment. In an army, takhi fight as skirmishers, wielding
hunting weapons and farming tools. They cannot leave their master’s
land on pain of death. Some escaped takhi live in remote
villages, subject to attack by marauders and wild beasts. A few of
the strongest and most intelligent takhi are chosen as the
kharrunahi’s armor-bearers and charioteers. Some are
also made hasskharrli, house servants who are trained as
warriors.
Tyttkheini are
free men, usually craftsmen. Those who are not craftsmen are
professional or semi-professional permanent soldiers. Bands of these
soldiers roam the land, marauding villages unprotected by princes and
selling themselves out as soldiers to rich princes. A small
percentage of the tyttkheini who are neither craftsmen nor
soldiers are traders, traveling the land buying and selling
merchandise, or monks; monks usually live alone in the wilderness as
hermits, contemplating philosophy, but some serve as advisors to
princes or, having determined the meaning of life, wander about
teaching people their intellectual discoveries. The tyttkheini
who are craftsmen live for the most part on the land of a prince,
with the same conditions as the takhi except that they may
leave if they wish. Tyttkheini supply their own weapons, but
can afford real weapons and some armor: swords, shields, helmets,
mail coifs, and sometimes mail suits. As a symbol of their status,
all tyttkheini except the monks bear weapons; even craftsmen
and merchants wear daggers in their belts.
The kharrunahi
are the only class other than the heintammi that men must be
born into to be a part of. The relationship between kharrunahi
and heintammi is this: all heintammi are kharrunahi,
but not all kharrunahi are heintammi. The kharrunahi
who are not heintammi usually serve a heintamm.
Kharrunahi, traditionally, were the only warriors allowed to
ride chariots, but there are now chariot divisions in the mercenary
armies. Kharrunahi live by a strict code of honor. In battle,
their purpose is to seek out other kharrunahi for personal
combat, ruthlessly killing any warriors in their way. The stags that
pull their chariots are trained to fight men as they would rival
stags, using their antlers, which are often tipped with iron by their
owners. Their tactic is usually to run along, knocking men aside, and
pull their master’s chariot alongside an enemy chariot so the
kharrunahi may do battle. After each separate charge, the
kharrunahi string the heads of fallen tyttkheini around
the necks of their stags. If they have killed a kharrunah,
they impale his head on their lance and wave it about before giving
it to a tyttkhein or takh to carry to a safe place.
